The SNAP Cycle and Diabetes Management During a One-Time Change in Disbursement Schedule

What is it about?

In this paper, we show that an expected change in the timing of receipt of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – i.e. “food stamps”) benefits changes eating patterns and therefore diabetes management. We examine changes across the month in hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) during a one-time change in the disbursement of SNAP benefits due to the 2018-19 federal government shutdown, and we find that hyperglycemia increases when benefits are disbursed early – indicating a “binge effect” reaction to this unexpected receipt of benefits. During the succeeding larger gap in benefits, hypoglycemia decreases – possibly due to an anticipatory response of decreasing insulin medication.

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